SAN FRANCISCO — Andre Iguodala remembers all of it like yesterday.
“It was just intuition,” Iguodala mentioned. “I didn’t think it’d be four. The stars were just aligned.”
Even Iguodala’s loftiest visions when he signed with the Warriors again in 2013 as a veteran getting into his tenth NBA season would look modest compared to what’s in retailer subsequent month.
Iguodala will develop into the primary member of the Warriors’ dynasty to have his quantity retired, the group mentioned Thursday in a long-anticipated announcement.
Iguodala’s No. 9 will go into the rafters Feb. 23 in a pregame ceremony earlier than the Warriors’ recreation towards the Dallas Mavericks and, sure, Klay Thompson.
A father, a enterprise capitalist and the president of the NBA Gamers Affiliation, Iguodala mentioned he nonetheless hasn’t taken time to soak within the glory, even since retiring in 2023. However possibly, for an evening.
“What the Warriors team has set up, they’ve done something really special,” Iguodala mentioned. “I think it’s going to blow folks out of the water. It kind of helped me reflect.”
Iguodala joins Rick Barry (24), Wilt Chamberlain (13), Nate Thurmond (42), Al Attles (16), Chris Mullin (17) and Tom Meschery (14) because the seventh participant in franchise historical past to obtain the dignity, and that quantity figures to develop to double-digits earlier than lengthy with the additions of Nos. 11, 23, 30 and 35.
“It just means I’m the oldest,” Iguodala, 40, mentioned of receiving the primary ceremony between the 5 core members of their championship runs. “I think I’ll be able to reflect on those guys. Without those guys, I wouldn’t be in this position.
“I think they understand how important I was. But obviously Steph, Klay and Draymond just being so unique in who they are. It’s just a powerful formula. You see everyone trying to duplicate it now, and it’s kind of throwing basketball off. Because they’re one-of-ones, all of them. And obviously KD’s just from another planet.”
Collectively, they managed to achieve the NBA Finals in 5 consecutive seasons, from 2015-19, after which teamed up once more — with out Durant — to win an unbelievable fourth title in 2022.
The fourth championship put Iguodala in elite firm, as one in every of 42 gamers to ever accomplish the feat, and his 2015 Finals MVP made him one in every of simply 11 to attain the tandem.
Iguodala by no means matched the person numbers from the primary 9 years in Philadelphia and Denver, however his legacy will likely be outlined by his contributions to profitable within the latter half of his profession.
“You don’t know when the end is going to be, especially at 10 years. The average is like three and a half now,” Iguodala mentioned. “So for me (at the time), it was just like, I want to get that joy back in playing basketball. … It was just perfect timing on and off the court. But the atmosphere I played in during that playoff series, I just decided I wanted to play in it 41 times a year.”
Iguodala started his enterprise ventures throughout his taking part in profession, and he has solely ramped up these investments in retirement. He squeezed the convention name for this announcement in between conferences for TGL, the brand new golf league shaped by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy by which he owns a stake in The Bay Golf Membership alongside Curry. (He’s additionally an investor in Bay FC, the area’s NWSL workforce, and quite a few tech corporations.)
He by no means averaged double figures and solely performed half-hour per recreation in one in every of his eight seasons with Golden State, however Iguodala mentioned the Warriors fanbase “probably played the biggest role in this. They voiced their appreciation of me.”
Now, although, he admitted he typically will get flustered when acknowledged in public, the type of interactions that grew to become commonplace over a 19-year taking part in profession.
“I’m not even thinking I’m Andre Iguodala the basketball player,” he mentioned. “I’m used to getting stopped a lot. But now it throws me off. Because I’m like, I don’t play basketball anymore. I’m just a normal venture capitalist and I run the players association. I’ve got work to do.”
Followers usually share one widespread sentiment once they do strike up the braveness to share their appreciation, one in every of many who needs to be on show subsequent month inside Chase Heart.
“Anywhere I go in the Bay – if I go grab some pancakes, or people are surprised I might go to buy a jacket at Patagonia – I constantly get stopped by folks and they say, you know, you really helped me raise my children,” Iguodala mentioned. “Bringing a proper approach to whatever it is that you do, respecting what you do, doing it at a high level, teamwork, discipline, sacrifice … You walk away feeling a little bit better about yourself, actually. You realize it’s bigger than you.”
